Armadas of civil servants
From Brigadier Michael Calvert Sir: After General Wingate's second Chindit Operation in 1944 1 had the honour of dining privately more than once with the Viceroy, Field-Marshal Lord Wavell, while he questioned me about what happened. He was concerned as he had originally brought Wingate to India and had supported him against opposition until his untimely death. I made some notes on these conversations.
Wavell said that he had crossed swords with Churchill over the size of his headquarters in Cairo which the latter thought was much too large and overfull of penpushing staff officers whom he would prefer to see fighting.
Lord Wavell told me that in reply he had said, "It is no good trying to reduce the number of streams in a delta until the volume of water in the main river has first been reduced. For all the bowlers in Whitehall we must have batsmen at this end to deal with all the balls that come from Whitehall." This retort, I feel, aptly sums up the article in your illustrious contemporary, the Times, by George Hutchinson on the 'Overblown Armada of Civil Servants in Britain today' and the consequent plethora of local government officers which has to be maintained to deal with all the balls that come from Whitehall. My five years' experience as a local government officer in the GLC vividly reminded me of our wartime viceroy's wise and succinct reply.
May I suggest that your perspicacious paper joins in the campaign to clean the bottom of the Ship of State of the parasites which do so much to reduce its speed and efficiency, as is clearly shown in the revealing diaries of Mr Crossman and Mr Cecil King?
Michael Calvert 6a Gregory Place, London W8
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